What's in store for software development trends in 2020?
Hybrid mobile app development will continue to gain momentum in 2020, to the benefit of QA engineers and developers alike. This software development trend is a win-win, as the business benefits too.
Hybrid mobile app development enables a business to produce quality mobile apps for both iOS and Android devices without the need for specialized development or testing. These hybrid apps exist within a single code base, then the code is uploaded for iOS and Android stores.
The two-for-one advantage of hybrid app development makes it easier to code, perform maintenance and test across multiple platforms and devices. It also provides a similar user experience on both platforms. This synchronicity reduces the need for end users to learn or use specific functions, which eases their experience with the application and its ongoing updates. On the back end, the hybrid mobile approach requires no special training for a developer or tester to move from one platform to another.
Hybrid mobile app development costs less than OS-specific projects because developers and testers build and evaluate a hybrid app once, instead of on each individual platform. There's no need to hire developers or testers that specialize in a single mobile platform. Testers and developers benefit because they can build broader skills. However, developers might prefer to keep their specialized status in hot development areas rather than work with a generalized code base.
Developers and testers also significantly shrink their workloads with hybrid mobile apps. You can consistently test hybrid apps across a number of devices on both platforms. Developers must still create both builds for testing, but there's no need to duplicate and tweak coding to satisfy specific platform requirements.
Testers also enjoy more shared functionality between mobile and web application versions. There's less variation between the two, which makes testing less redundant across platforms, browsers and device types.
Hybrid mobile apps are the wave of the future, and they will continue to expand in popularity in the coming year.
Amy E. Reichert is a certified QA engineer at RxMx.